Arkie mentioned this song on 07-Jan-00.

According to Billboard magazine, this version was released as a 45-rpm single, Monument 1108, in 1968.


SMOKE SMOKE SMOKE (BUT NOT AROUND ME)
(Merle Travis)
As recorded by Grandpa Jones, found on YouTube.

Now, I’m a feller with a heart o’ gold,
And my heart may be just a little bit old,
But it’s tickin’ fine and I can’t complain none yet,
And the reason for the way the old pump feels,
It ain’t mired down an’ spinnin’ its wheels
In nicotine tar from smokin’ cigarettes.
Nearly ever’body that ever I knew
Goes around a-smokin’ like a stopped-up flue,
Holler-eyed, wheezin’, short o’ breath, an’ pale.
Tomorrow it might be just my luck
To get run over by a two-ton truck,
But I ain’t gonna kill myself a-smokin’ coffin nails.

CHORUS: Smoke, smoke, smoke that cigarette!
Smoke, smoke, smoke, and when you smoke yourself to death,
You ain’t gonna cough an’ wheeze no more
Over on the hallelujah shore,
Where I understand there ain’t no cigarettes.

The other day I saw a man
All bent over and a-wringin’ his hands
And a-coughin’ so hard I thought his lungs would crack.
Well, his eyes was red and his face was blue,
And I thought his earthly days were through,
So I run up an’ I hit ’im on the back.
Well, he caught his breath and breathed about twice,
Said: “Thanks, old buddy, for savin’ my life.
I was strangled on a tickle in my throat, a smoker’s gift.”
Then he done a thing that got my goat:
He started to scratchin’ in the pockets of his coat
Till he found himself a king-sized cigarette. CHORUS

I’ll tell you somethin’ that ain’t no joke:
I never did, and I never will smoke,
And I don’t give a durn what a lot o’ people think.
A lady I know said: “I think you should,
’Cause cigarette smoke it smells so good.”
Well, it don’t smell good to me; in fact, it stinks.
When you get right down to the truth of it,
Most of the smokers would like to quit,
But they just can’t break the habit, is what they say.
So if you’re like most o’ the smokers I’ve seen,
With a backbone weaker than nicotine,
Would you please just blow the smoke the other way? CHORUS